Do Kids Need to Come to School Everyday?

The book that we have been reading, Curriculum 21, continues to point to the fact that we are not meeting the needs of our students through our current educational system. I really like Jacobs' theory that "form should follow function" or the way that we do things should come second to the purpose of why we are doing something within a school. With the multitude of learning options that students have via the internet, I am wondering why we require students to come to school every morning at 8am when the are bleary eyed and half awake. This type of schooling meets the needs of some students, but probably not the majority. I think a flexible schedule at the high school level would better meet the needs of our learners and offer them some accountability for their learning. The option of coming in to school at a later time or taking a class or two online could be offered to older or more mature students who have proven that they can handle the responsibility of school in this manner. This would be a more effective way of transitioning our students to life after high school where work and academic schedules can vary significantly from a basic 8:00-2:00 school day.

I am sure that a flexible schedule is much easier to incorporate in theory than in practice. I know at my school, we are hamstrung by a variety of issues that impact the master schedule and that one schedule is difficult to meet the needs of all learners. It would be interesting to look at what other public schools across the country are implementing for schedules in order to more effectively use their time.

National Curriculum

I found it interesting the suggestion by Jacobs that a "national array of thoughtful, well-articulated curriculum options" be made available by the federal government as a sort of guideline for states to work under. Notice that Jacobs is not saying that we should have a national curriculum but a variety of resources supported by the federal government. This could be used as a framework by states and give common language and an understanding of effective curricular examples. Standards could be developed with input from the best teachers at all levels and unite our educational system. At the very least, teachers would have access to methods that were supported by researchers and teachers alike. A great system would also have instructional strategies available to teachers as well. I'm sure this would be a huge undertaking and that our federal government would somehow find a way to screw it up but it seems as though these curricular options would provide a great impetus for change within our educational system and a useful model for any educator.